natalya's blog

Today we had a talk with Dave MacDonald from Infinite Design. Dave is a local Geordie, he actually studied at Newcastle College like me. He was a lovely guy, really friendly. I felt comfortable listening to him and didn't grow bored or fidgety, I was really taking in everything he said. He had some good things to say, which actually made me feel better in myself after having a slightly down week.

Here is the tips he thought would be helpful. This is what he looks for in a creative, in this order too:

Personality - Be yourself
Portfolio - As long as the work is good and the ideas are there
Passion - Must have passion in the business


He then went on to go into more detail about each of these points:

Personality - Be relaxed
                     Professional - be on time
                     Be honest - always be yourself, the way you dress/speak etc

Portfolio - Genuine - only show your own work! (he said it is true that people take other work and                
                                                                               pretend it's their own!)
                 Confidence - Everyones different, some people will like your work, other people wont.
                                      Make sure you believe in your work and big it up.
                 Receptive - Take notes of what people say about your work, and make changes where you
                                    see fit.

Passion - Brave - Show your work, even if you are slightly unsure of it. Let them decide if they like it,
                            take advice.
                Committed - If you believe in it then stick with it.
                Positive - Be Confident and be relaxed.

Dave then went on to show us his journey from where he started and how he ended up where he is today. I found it to be an interesting one, it was clear it isn't easy to get into the business. To cut a long story short, he went down to London to work for two big company's, found it wasn't for him so he moved back up North for a job but ended up being on the dole for a year till he managed to get into a few agencies up here, to then end up in his current position at Infinite Design.

Some of his work is very well produced, in particular I really liked his work which he done for Dance City. He used the coloured windows from the building within the brochures, it acted like a branding for the company, I thought it was really successful.

Here is a link to the companys website http://www.infinitedesign.com/recent.asp